The Middle East appears to be conspiring to land the U.S. in the middle of another war, just what it doesn’t need as it prepares to decide on a president.

Having been pounded relentlessly by the government’s air power, Syrian rebels are now calling for the establishment of a “no-fly zone” to aid them in trying to oust the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Britain, France and the U.S. imposed two no-fly zones on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq after the Gulf War, and allied forces helped rebels in Libya defeat Muammar Gaddafi’s government troops by closing the air to Gaddafi’s fighters. So it’s a popular idea, but the dangers in Syria would be much greater than in either of those cases. Both Saddam and Gaddafi lacked the firepower to challenge the foreign aircraft effectively; Assad, on the other hand, has a considerable air force and anti-aircraft defences. The Syrians have already shot down one Turkish jet, and Assad’s scorched-earth tactics in confronting the rebels suggest he would be willing to challenge foreign powers for control of his air space.

That would likely please Iran, which openly declared its backing for Syria last week and seems to be itching for a wider war to divert attention from the slow strangulation western sanctions have forced on its economy. Since former UN secretary general Kofi Annan abandoned his diplomatic attempts to end the fighting, the momentum has all been on the side of escalated violence. The rebels claimed Monday they had shot down a Syrian jet — a report based on Youtube videos — which would suggest someone, probably Turkey, had met their pleas for anti-aircraft weapons.

The label on the YouTube video said a group called the Youth of the Land of the Euphrates was responsible, though a commentary on YouTube also described it as “the downing of a MIG-23 by the Grandsons of Mohammed Brigade.” The rebels have been clamoring for antiaircraft weapons for weeks, and there have been unconfirmed reports over the past two weeks suggesting that Turkey had passed shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to the rebels.

While Iran is egging on Syria, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, according to weekend reports, is pressing hard for an attack on Iran before the U.S. elections in November. The Israel prime minister may have been emboldened by the recent visit by Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate and an old friend, who indicated a Romney administration would be open to an assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Israeli reports indicated Netanyahu and his defence minister, Ehud Barack, are having a tougher time winning over their cabinet colleagues and members of the military.

Were it up to Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, an Israeli military strike on the nuclear facilities in Iran would take place in the coming autumn months, before the November election in the United States,” reported the biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth, in an article by its two senior commentators.

However, it added,

“The respect which in the past formed a halo around prime ministers and defence ministers and helped them muster a majority for military decisions, is gone, no more … Either the people are different, or the reality is different.”

Another report indicated Israel’s government had started testing a new missile alert system, sending out text messages to cellphones across the country in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Russian. The test took place as Netanyahu again highlighted the threat represented by Iran. “All of the threats that are currently being directed against the Israeli home front pale against a particular threat, different in scope, different in substance, and therefore I reiterate that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons,” he said. His warning was condemned by the liberal Haaretz newspaper as “demogogic” and dangerous.

In their campaign to enlist the public, through the media, Netanyahu and Barak are trying to generate a wave of sympathy for their position, so that they can bring hesitant ministers to their side and claim, in answer to critics at home and abroad, that the Barak-Netanyahu line reflects the will of the people. … The information Barak and Netanyahu are releasing, either themselves or through transparent proxies, is confusing the issue. Iran will not attain nuclear weapons in the coming year, and while taking action against it might be imperative in the future, it is not an urgent necessity.

Having pulled U.S. troops out of two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Obama administration’s taste for more conflict is probably limited. A successful attack on either Iran or Syria might produce a burst of short-term support, but the body bags would start piling up pretty soon afterwards.

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